


Of Trains and Traitors

by Lasairiona



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Betrayal, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24270904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lasairiona/pseuds/Lasairiona
Summary: *Contains spoilers*The traitor to the Alliance is revealed. Most dialogue taken directly from the game, from theCrisis on Umbaraflashpoint.The IA is an operative, female Rattataki.
Relationships: Female Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine/Theron Shan
Kudos: 5





	Of Trains and Traitors

“The traitor is just behind that door.”

Lana Beniko and I flank the door, our weapons drawn and ready. Theron Shan lingers behind us, his blaster aimed at the closed door. I give Lana a short nod and she hits the door release. It opens with a _whoosh_. I call on my training to calm my breathing, the months of hunting the leak within the Alliance finally within reach. 

“They're gone!” My unease heightens, and I grip the hilt of my vibroknife tighter. Something is wrong. Something more than just a traitor within the Alliance. I don't need to be Force sensitive to feel the edge of Lana's nerves, stretched every bit as tight as mine as we step around the engineer’s chair to find it empty.

Lana turns off her lightsaber and clips it on her belt. “That's impossible. According to the signal, they're still on the convoy.”

I catch a movement in the corner of my eye. Theron. Raising his blaster? My mind fights against it, but the Sith by my side has no such problem. “No!” She dives in front of me as Theron fires, catching a stun blast that incapacitates her. Purple lightning dances along her body, and I feel my stomach drop as reality catches up.

“Theron?”

“It's over, Commander.” His voice holds an edge I've not heard before, adding to the surreal feeling of looking down the business end of a blaster at my lover. I duck as his finger tightens on the trigger, the blast going over my shoulder. Glass from the shattered window rains on me as I drop behind the empty chair for cover. Four more bolts fly by, breaking the control console and activating a force field in the doorway. 

“In a few minutes’ time, this train will collide with that mountain range. You'll be disintegrated, and I'll escape with the Adegan crystals.”

My heart pounds in my chest at his words. _He's so calm... how is he so calm?_

“Don't worry,” he says, stepping toward the doorway, “you won't feel a thing.”

I straighten, meeting his caramel colored eyes through the red haze of the barrier. “Did you _ever_ love me? Or was that all part of the act?” I spit the words out, bile in my throat. My voice sounds strangled, even to me, and I curse myself for letting my emotions get involved.

How many times over the years had I seduced men for information while in the service of Imperial Intelligence? Alien women aren't common in an empire that looks down on anything not human or Sith, so I used my Rattataki blood to my advantage. Men love those taboo encounters.

Theron was SIS...my perfect foil. I knew better than to think this truce, this unnatural partnership, would be genuine. And yet, every part of me had trusted him so completely. I'd actually... loved him. This was the reason a spy just can't have a real relationship with anyone. Not to mention with another spy.

“You know I love you.” A flicker crosses his face as he looks down. _Is that guilt?_ “But this is bigger than us.” He starts pacing, as if he's the one caged rather than me. “Luring you into that trap on Iokath was just the beginning. Ever since you defeated Valkorion, everything I've done has been toward one goal.” He stops his pacing and faces me. “The total destruction of the Eternal Alliance.”

I shake my head. “You helped build the Alliance. After everything we've been through, why tear it down now?”

“What I built was an end to the Eternal Empire. Not this.” A scowl creases his face, and I fight the longing to smooth the lines between his eyebrows. “I followed you because I believed you'd end the cycle of war. I thought we'd finally be free once you took down Valkorion. But the Alliance outgrew you. Now it's rotting from the inside. The galaxy is fighting back and you've become a symbol of oppression.” His lip curls in a sneer, distain rolling off him. “So much for your dreams of peace.”

“So let's find a solution together. I want peace as much as you, Theron.”

Theron snorts as he steps backward. “I believed that. Once.”

My mind races, searching for anything to say to change his mind. “If you topple the Alliance, millions will die.”

“If that's the cost of peace...so be it.” He pulls a detonator from his pocket, then meets my gaze. “Thirty seconds to impact. This is goodbye.”

Hot pin pricks behind my eyes threaten tears, and I know I won't be able to hold onto my composure for much longer. “Don't do this, Theron. I love you.”

He turns his back to me, walking toward a speeder bike in the corner of the train car. I swallow as his finger depresses the detonator with a soft _click_. I hear an explosion in the distance, soon drowned out by the roar of my blood pumping. Theron drops the detonation switch, and my eyes remain transfixed as it falls to the floor and rolls toward me.

This is not how I expected my life to end. After facing the Emperor, Revan, Vaylin...not to mention the endless stream of conspiracies and intrigues in the Empire’s service, Sith and Jedi, Darth Malgus... No. _No, I am not going out like this!_

Lana groans and pushes herself up, and I move to help her. “Theron escaped,” I state, forcing the emotion from my voice.

_“Warning: collision imminent. Brace for impact.”_

The terminal's computer announcement snaps Lana alert. “We have to survive long enough to make Theron pay. Jump!”

We scramble up the console and leap from the broken window. I brace myself for the fall as the ground rushes up to meet me. The impact steals my breath, and I tumble across the ground until the trunk of a skeletal tree halts me. Pain blossoms through my ribs as I gasp for air. Before I know what's happening, Lana is leaning over me. She's saying something, but her words aren't registering. 

_“You know I'd do anything to protect you."  
“You're going to look great sitting on that throne.”  
“You have to stop doing this. You'll give me a heart attack."  
“And they said if I ever kissed an Imp I'd spontaneously implode.”_

Flashes of Theron’s face echo in my mind, my memories taunting me, mocking my heart for getting involved where it shouldn't have. And why had it? This was just a job, wasn't it? _No, this was a fight for your very existence. It was different this time._

Lana's hand grips my shoulder. “Commander?”

_Shut up!_ I scream at my mind, trying to silence the pain and doubt of everything I'd been through over the past decade. I force my eyes open, feeling the dirt on my eyelashes. Relief washes over Lana's face, and I feel the warmth of the Force emanating from her hand.

“Just breathe, Commander.”

I push her away with more strength than intended then roll to my side, my stomach heaving. The protest at my action dies on her lips and she crouches behind me. Again I feel the warmth of the healing energy spreading through my body. “It must be bad if you're Force healing me,” I rasp.

“Your wounds are minor, but the situation is grave. We must stop Theron before he can get off world.” She gets to her feet and offers me a hand. “You can mourn later. There's no time for it now.”

I jerk my chin down in a single nod. “You're right, of course.” My lungs still burn as I take another deep breath. While getting the wind knocked out of me isn’t an unfamiliar experience, it is always an unpleasant one. I work up enough saliva to spit on the ground, wishing for even just a mouthful of water to rinse with.

I choke on a laugh as the voice of an old contact creeps into my mind. _“And if wishes were banthas, we'd all be eating steak.”_ I haven't seen Kohb since Hutta, near the beginning of my career in Imperial Intelligence—back when she was knocking heads together for whichever cartel gave the most coin and smuggling whatever goods would fit in her ship’s cargo hold. 

I take another deep breath, this one easier than the last, then wipe my mouth on the back of my sleeve. “Alright, let's go." I grasp Lana's offered hand and pull myself up, leaning on her for a moment while I wait for my head to stop spinning.

Once the world is stable again, I look around at the damage. The anti-gravity rings that the train ran on were blown by Theron's bomb, and the train is in smoldering pieces. Around it I see the bodies of the dead and injured—Umbaran soldiers that were on the train as well. I look down at myself, knowing how easily shock and adrenaline can mask injuries.

My service training kicks in, guiding me through the motions. I move my hands around my neck then look at them. My instructor’s voice comes to mind unbidden and narrates my movements.

_“Keep you hands tight. You need to see if there are any seeping wounds. Check your hands for blood transfer between each body part. Neck. Head. Chest. Back. Hip to knee, then check your hands. Knee to ankle. Check. Other leg. Hip to knee. Knee to ankle. Left arm. Right arm.”_

Running my hands over my bare scalp I can feel the stickiness of congealing blood. Lana lifts a hand, as if to heal me, and I push her arm away. “No, it's fine. There's no telling what else we'll encounter, and you'll need all the strength you can muster.”

“I could say the same of you.”

“I'm fine,” I insist, continuing my self assessment. I can feel the bruising, minor abrasions, but nothing more serious. I check my gear next: a torn sleeve, another tear in the knee of my pants, and more caked on dirt than I've had since Tatooine. My weapons miraculously remained sheathed during the tumble, but the other equipment on my belt wasn't so lucky. “Dammit.”

I turn the small item over in my hands, the casing smashed and the electronics within sparking. “Stealth generator's destroyed,” I state in answer to Lana’s quizzical look. “As are the stims and adrenals. Still have one medpack, though.” I tuck it back into the pouch on my belt and draw my blaster. “He's got a head start on us,” I state, running through a functions check on my sidearm. There's nothing worse than a blaster malfunction during a firefight. “No time to lose.”

Lana's bright yellow eyes glint with a steely determination and fury. She draws her lightsaber from her belt, powered off but ready. “Stay vigilant. The Umbarans are already hostile toward us.”

She takes the lead as we transverse the wreckage. She was unlike any other Sith lord I've encountered in the Empire’s service. Practical. Level-headed. Not on the hair-trigger that many other Sith are. All other of the Force users I did my best to stay clear of, but Lana quickly became my closest advisor ever since Rishi. Even more so since thawing me from carbonite on Zakuul.

My communicator crackles in my ear, followed by Theron's voice. “Not surprised you survived the crash. I didn't think it'd be that easy, but it does buy me enough time to get off world.”

My stomach rolls at the sound of his voice, the casual tone over our brush with death by his hands twisting the knife in my back. I tamp down any plea for him to come back, to talk this over. _Never again._ “Keep talking. It'll make silencing you all the more satisfying.” I pull the comm unit from my ear and crush it under my heel.

Lana watches me, her face clouded. “I don't understand. How did I not see this coming? Was I really so blind?”

“If anyone was blind, it was me. We were...” My voice trails off as a lump lodges in my throat. 

“I know. I'm sorry, Commander. I can't imagine what you're going through.”

“Back on Rishi, you said yourself that he’s able to keep his mind shielded. That's how he fooled me.” I take another centering breath, tamping down the feelings of betrayal. “That's how he fooled us all.”


End file.
